What is it?

The 1.4 TFSI is the entry-level model of the ground-up new Audi A4 range. It’s based on Audi’s new MLB-Evo platform and is claimed to weigh as much as 120kg less than the outgoing model. The drag coefficient of 0.23 is said to be lowest in class.

The car has grown in size, being 25mm longer (12mm of the stretch is in the wheelbase) and 16mm wider. This is to the benefit of cabin space, especially in the rear. Knee room is particularly impressive for rear passengers, while the front seat occupants have a satisfyingly capacious cockpit.

This ‘totally new’ 148bhp petrol engine replaces the old 1.8 TFSI unit, although it is less powerful. It’s a sophisticated unit, which has its exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head, very high-pressure (200bar) fuel injection and separate cooling circuits for the crankcase and cylinder head.

In the UK, pay another £950 for this Sport model and you’ll also get sat-nav, 17in wheels, extendable squab sports seats, an upgraded sound system and a nice three-spoke steering wheel.

What's it like?

The new A4 can best be described as a polishing of the established A4 formula, rather than a reinvention. Much of the car’s story revolves around fuel efficiency and the introduction of some autonomous technology, such as the automatic city braking.

The remarkable fuel-saving coasting function, which uses information from various on-board sensors to suggest to the driver that he lifts of the throttle, uses the car's kinetic energy - rather than its fuel - to carry it along.

Audi has also taken a conscious decision to tune the new A4 more for comfort than hard-core handling prowess. Indeed, Audi chairman Rupert Stadler told Autocar that customer requests had been for a more ‘comfort-orientated’ car.

On the roads north of Venice, this A4 is just that: a free-rolling, long-legged and somewhat languid driving companion. It is certainly comfortable and swift at motorway speeds, showing unexpected real-world ground-covering ability for a relatively modest powertrain.

The gearshift is very smooth and slick, although the lever is quite tall and the throw long. This biggest problem in making super-smooth progress is at lower speeds, where the difficulty of finding the clutch's biting point on its featherweight pedal action is a hurdle.

This car has the Audi ‘Drive Select’ system, which offers three settings: Comfort, Auto and Dynamic. There’s no need to experiment, just select Dynamic and leave it there. The Comfort setting is a mystery. It leaves the A4 underdamped and unable to track straight and true at motorway speeds.

However, in the spirit of the A4’s new character, Dynamic is not remotely about sporting responses. It is very well judged, offering good body control and - on the Italian roads - the ability to soak up and smother away poor surfaces.

Get the A4 engaged in, say, a long curve such as you’d find on a big roundabout, and the car will lean in to the bend noticeably. It is not unpleasant and in many ways makes a refreshing change in this market segment.

To get the best out of the new A4, the driver has to make measured and gentle inputs with all the controls, especially the steering. Once you’ve got the hang of it the A4 can be piloted at a decent lick on a back road, but it doesn’t encourage heroics and you can come to appreciate the unfussy way it makes progress.

Audi is making great claims for the in-cabin refinement of the new A4. However, under hard acceleration the engine’s distinctive note is quite noticeable, and although the cabin is a place of calm, on certain road surfaces there was a little too much swirling road and wind noise.

It’s possible that this is simply because the very refined transmission and sound-deadening acoustic glass used in the front side windows is simply accentuating what remaining noise there is. But, like the A4’s dynamic performance, the final conclusion can only be reached on UK roads.

Should I buy one?

The new Audi A4 1.4 TFSI is a very pleasant, swift and potentially frugal machine, which is handily spacious in the cabin and beautifully finished inside and out. It also seems well priced considering some of the advanced features that are included as standard.

The A4 now bravely stands away from the ever more sporting tuning of the premium cars in this class. It probably doesn’t even know where the Nürburgring is, which, if you have to get from Newcastle to Nuneaton for a meeting, you’ll be glad of when you step out, relaxed, at journey’s end.

I took it that this engine is the same one as in the A3. That engine is so quiet. I was in two minds as to whether to buy the A3 Saloon or the Q3 - drove both and it really was a toss up. Decided on the Q3 in the end (manual). In the A3 Saloon the 1.4 engine is paired with a 7 speed auto as well as a manual - very good it is too. I think Autocar have just forgotten to mention the CoD.

Interesting to see that, after years of promising that each new A4 would deliver better handling than its predecessor, Audi has finally seen sense and realised that most customers couldn't give a stuff about handling as they plough up and down motorways,the car's natural habitat. Comfort and refinement are far more important qualities in real world driving conditions, and were traditional Audi virtues before they started chasing BMW's "sportiness". Hopefully, this means the new A4 will cope better with our UK crummy road surfaces.

As a user of the coasting tech in a Golf (with DSG), my experience of it over "identical" journeys with/without it enabled is that any mpg gains, if at all, are so small as to be insignificant. The driver has more options and ability to improve economy by careful throttle use, than this artificial accompaniment. In fact, it is less than perfect to find no engine braking when you back off, leading to use of brakes where a skilled driver would otherwise use none. Remarkable fuel-saving coasting function? Not in my experience. And it does not work when cruise control is enabled.

the car will lean in to the bend noticeably. It is not unpleasant and in many ways makes a refreshing change in this market segment

Yes, nothing like a nice bit of old-fashioned body roll in a brand-new car, especially when its competitors don't. It's the way forward.

Hilton Holloway wrote:

However, under hard acceleration the engine’s distinctive note is quite noticeable, and although the cabin is a place of calm, on certain road surfaces there was a little too much swirling road and wind noise

Jesus, if it's like that on mirror-smooth German roads, it'll be a disaster here in Blighty. The more I see and read about this new Audi the worse it sounds. They're not trying.

the car will lean in to the bend noticeably. It is not unpleasant and in many ways makes a refreshing change in this market segment

Yes, nothing like a nice bit of old-fashioned body roll in a brand-new car, especially when its competitors don't. It's the way forward.

Hilton Holloway wrote:

However, under hard acceleration the engine’s distinctive note is quite noticeable, and although the cabin is a place of calm, on certain road surfaces there was a little too much swirling road and wind noise

Jesus, if it's like that on mirror-smooth German roads, it'll be a disaster here in Blighty. The more I see and read about this new Audi the worse it sounds. They're not trying.

"They're not trying"

They don't have to. Do you think the average Audi buyer has any idea what tramlining is, or a castor angle? Or that the Skodas they snigger at actually have the same engineering under the skin. Let the customers feel they are buying premium with gimmicky lights, doors that sound nice when you close them and a well assembled interior. Handbags on wheels. They will sell loads of them to the ignorant minions.